Monthly Archives: April 2012

April 27, 2012- Fox News continues to find new ethical lines to cross during this election cycle.

Yesterday morning, the Karl Rove-backed Super PAC American Crossroads released an ad attacking President Obama as the "celebrity president." During an appearance this morning on America's Newsroom Republican strategist Brad Blakeman labeled the ad a "success" because "Karl has gotten more earned media than the amount he invested in the ad." This is due, in no small part, to the help of Rove's colleagues at Fox News.

April 18, 2012- One of the most talked-about "dark money" groups of the election released its tax returns yesterday, showing it raised almost $77 million from fewer than 100 donors over 19 months. Most of the money spent in its first year went directly to political ads or grants to other groups.

The returns are the first glimpse showing how much money has been raised by Crossroads GPS, launched by GOP strategist Karl Rove in mid-2010.

(Here are the full returns, for both 2010 and 2011. We've marked interesting bits. If you spot something we haven't, let us know.)

April 13, 2012- WASHINGTON — The “GPS” in Crossroads GPS ostensibly stands for grassroots policy strategies, but the Washington Post reported Friday that nearly 90 percent of the money flowing through the Karl Rove-associated group has come from as few as two dozen anonymous donors, two of whom gave at least $10 million each.

The group, known for funding hard-hitting attack ads against congressional Democrats in the 2010 elections, has said that it and its sister group, American Crossroads, intend to spend $300 million in this year's elections. Most recently, Crossroads GPS spent $1.7 million on television ads attempting to blame President Barack Obama for high gas prices.

April 9, 2012- Karl Rove's attack operation, American Crossroads, the powerhouse of the Republican family of super PACs, is planning to begin "its first major anti-Obama advertising blitz of the year." It's unclear how big the initial round of attacks will be, but the operation has "an anticipated bank account of more than $200 million," most of which has come from undisclosed contributions.

But Crossroads is doing more than just crafting ads; it's also doing ample research as to which messages are resonating with the public. It led to this interesting tidbit.

[Steven J. Law, the group's leader, said] Crossroads research suggests that Mr. Obama's campaign has started to gain traction among critical swing voters by arguing that Republicans, including Mr. Romney, favor an "economic plutocracy" in which middle-class voters can no longer count on financial security, even though they work hard and play by the rules.

April 2, 2012- Karl Rove said Monday that efforts by state treasurers to make hedge funds that manage state pension funds disclose donations to “super PACs” are meant to intimidate donors, comparing the situation to efforts by segregationists to scare NAACP donors in the 1950s.

“In the 1940s and 50s, a number of states attorneys general attempted to force a particular 501(c)4 to disclose its donors, the purpose was to intimidate people into not giving to that organization,” Rove said on Fox News.

“The group was the NAACP, which is a 501(c)4, has a 501(c)4 and does not disclose donors. That effort failed, in fact a Supreme Court in a 1954 case general held the right of organizations like that not to make their donors’ names public,” Rove said.